MALMESBURY took full advantage of Wootton Bassett’s defeat to Swindon Civil Service to climb to the top of Division One.

Openers’ Jack Ward and George Royle piled on 240 for the opening wicket at Hinton Charterhouse before the former was dismissed three short of his century.

Marcus Bond quickly followed Ward back to the pavilion before Royle was dismissed for 117 as Malmesbury went post 309-4.

Stuart McNeil and Josh Langley claimed the wickets of the Hinton opening duo leave them 13-2.

Peter Borton and Ben Watkinson provided the hosts’ resistance with61 and 51 not out respectively but Malmesbury restricted them to 214-5 to claim a 95-run success and take a one-point lead at the top of the table.

Wootton Bassett captain Darren Beasant insists that there will be no overreaction to his side’s first defeat of the season.

The Rylands Way side fell to a two-wicket loss at Swindon Civil Service as thelead at the top of Division One slipped from their grasp.

“It was frustrating,” Beasant said. “But we have won four and only lost one.

“We have all got to work harder. We need show more discipline, but we must remain calm.”

After being 85-1, Bassett collapsed to 169 all out after Andy Mildenhall claimed a hat-trick for the hosts despite 65 from Sam Lawro.

Civil Service got home with two balls and two wickets to spare with Mildenhall unbeaten on 24 at the end.

Cameron Wright (46) and Mark Douglas (53) got Collingbourne to 118-1 against Box, but a failure to deal with the spin of Gerald Heywaed (5-21) saw them lose eight wickets in 13 overs for 30 runs as they finished on 167 all out.

Tom Pike took 3-21 in the reply, but thanks to Hayward’s 72, Box got hom with three overs remaining.

Urchfont’s clash with Beanacre & Melksham ende4d in a tie as Urchfont were dismissed for 137 in the 31st over, Joe Dorgan scoring 38 and Cosmos Cupid 26.

Debutant Courtney Earl took 5-49 for Beanacre, whose reply looked in decent shape as they reached 82-4 after 20 overs.

Ben Brown scored 35 and Earl and unbeaten 31, but the bowling attack fought back through Dorgan and Vaughn Williams (3-22).

Reduced to 95-8, a 37-run ninth-wicket partnership between Earl and Rich Hemmings (15) took Beanacre close to victory.

But the reintroduction of Morlon Simon (4-29) saw him remove Hemmings, then concede a boundary to bring the scores level before the final wicket fell two balls later.